Mixed Packs

Reviews of the 2022 Carignan:

91 points, Angus Hughson, Vinous.com, April 2025:
The relatively rare 2022 Carignan has a delicious approachability bursting with blackberry, mulberry and sweet red cherry aromas, with a touch of musky plum skin. The good times continue with fleshy flavors, zippy acidity and just enough tannins to keep its streamlined shape over a generous finish. The 2022 is a fun Carignan that is hard to put down. Drinking window: 2024-2027.

16.5, Max Allen, Jancis Robinson, October 2023:
Vines planted in 2013, last red variety to be harvested in 2022, made in two batches– one free-run juice, lighter, fruitier; the other whole-berry, crushed, pressings added back, more structural – then blended for 6 months’ maturation in older puncheons. Enticing, black fruit, good vinosity, fine and focused. Keeps Carignan’s earthiness, growly tannins and gaminess as background notes, brings the delicious fruitiness into the foreground.

91 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
This is good. Perhaps the most convincing red of the suite, particularly in light of a variety endowed with astringent mettle and inherently high acidity. Placated, toned and let loose with what feels like gentle extraction and the right sort of oak treatment. Red pastille, kirsch, bergamot and a herbal tannic twine directing the fray. Mid-weighted, fresh, intense of flavour and yet light on its feet. Immensely versatile at the table. Easy drinking.

92 points, The Wine Front:
I do enjoy Carignan, especially from creaking old vines, though this offering from a vineyard planted in 2014 shows a fresher face, but still has excellent varietal character. Red and blue fruits, a little ironstone and scrub herb perfume, even some choc-liquorice. It’s medium-bodied, gently saline and savoury, light grip of tannin, good freshness and perfume, and offers a chewy finish of solid length, with a bit of amaro/orange peel trailing. Lots of character, and good to drink. Like it.

Reviews of the 2021 Carignan:

90 points, MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator, December 2023:
This has a wonderful energy to the core of red fruit flavors, including wild strawberry, cranberry and maraschino cherry. Reveals hints of clove-heavy chai tea that are supple, juicy and plush on the long finish. Drink now.

92 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
Grapes like this excite me. They are torrid and equipped with natural astringency and bright acidity, something that most traditional grapes in these parts lack. And? The wines have tension, detail and the savoury sort of lattice between fruit and finish that is required for a second glass. This is handled orchestrally. Red fruits, thyme, rosemary and scrub. A deft approach to gentle extraction that renders character without carignan's facility for hardness. Simple. Perhaps. But a tattoo of crushable drinkability reads 'thrills with a chill'.

Reviews of the 2020 Carignan:

92 points, James Suckling 2021, Nick Stock:
Such attractive, brambly raspberry and blackberry aromas here with a flurry of wild herbs, too. So fresh. The palate has vibrant red-berry flavors that sit lively, framed in bright, easy tannins. Very drinkable now.

91 points, Halliday Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin:
I can't think of many varieties better suited to the dry Mediterranean climate of McLaren Vale. Able to withstand torrid conditions while embedding its wines with a wiry cage of tannin and bright acidity, carignan is one of many tickets into the future. This producer champions plenty of others. A partial wild fermentation and short élevage in older French wood intuits promise: cherry pith, thyme, mint, liquorice. The tannins, as expected. Thrills with a chill.

Reviews of the 2019 Carignan:

91 points, The Real Review, Huon Hooke:
Bright, medium to deep red/purple colour. The nose is savoury, earthy as well as plummy, dark fruits driving the wine. A hint of pepper. Medium to full-bodied, abundant tannins which are powdery and supple. Some chocolate. Good drinking already and will take some age.

91 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front:
Vibrant, forest berry fruitiness, sprigs of green herb, minty notes, peppery stuff. Palate is light and lithe, sizzles with tart acidity in a good way, shows a feathery lick of earthy tannin. Spice, cranberry, kind of transparent, exotic things, it’s interesting and good. I like it. A bit amaro?

91 points, James Suckling:
This has red-flower and leafy aromas, as well as some earthy nuances. Vibrant raspberries and tart red cherries. Succulent appealingly fresh raspberries and redcurrants on the palate with fine, crisp tannins.

Reviews of 2024 Grenache Mataro:

92 points, Campbell Mattinson, April 2026:
For starters this wine is highly drinkable – it’s more-ish – but then it also has a dry, savoury sense of authenticity too. It feels and tastes like a wine that was grown and made out of the earth, if that makes sense. That’s a significant positive. It tastes of raspberries, black cherries, earth, roasted spices and peppercorns. It’s juicy and ripe up front – there’s a bit of red licorice flavour here – but then it’s dry and well honed through the finish.

Reviews of 2023 Grenache Mataro:

91 points, SA Wine Guide 2025, Shanteh Wale:
Matured for 14 months in old French puncheons. 70% Grenache and 30% Mataro. A real mix of blackberries, red cherry and pomegranate. The wine has a stirring ripe herbal nuance, like creeping ivy over a wild rose bush. Acidity has kept crunchy and vibrant with understated oak rounding out the closure, Mataro giving the wine that little speed hump of flesh on the middle palate. A clever wine that would please a Pinot drinker all the way to a Shiraz drinker. Drink now–2027.

Reviews of 2021 Grenache Mataro:

92 points, James Sucking, April 2023:
Bright, youthful and crunchy with aromas of red cherries, raspberries, pink peppercorns and white pepper. Medium-bodied with vibrant acidity and fine tannins. Peppery and wild finish. 70% Grenache and 30% Mataro. Delicious now.

92 points, Angus Hughson, Vinous, February 2023:
The 2021 Grenache and Mataro blend really delivers thanks to an expressive and generously fruited style radiating with black cherry, baked earth, red currants and older oak with a classic touch of McLaren Vale old iron. The palate is beautifully pitched - mouth-filling flavors and al dente tannins are superbly balanced to deliver genuine power and length.

93 points,  Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal, December 2022:
Medium deep crimson. Strawberry, red cherry, blueberry, bubble gum hint aromas. Sweetly fruited wine wine with ample red fruits, supply velvety textures and fresh indelible acidity before finishing crunchy and long. Very good viscosity and mineral length. Drink now to 2026.

91 points, Wine Advocate 2022, Erin Larkin:
The 2021 Grenache Mataro is composed of 70% Grenache from the Hunt Road vineyard and 30% Mataro from the Sand Road vineyard. This is great! It is vibrant, nervy and fresh, with a skein of tannin that courses through the fruit. The acidity is briny and makes for juicy drinking. Well played.

Reviews of 2020 Grenache Mataro:

93 points, James Suckling 2021, Nick Stock:
Strikingly bright and fresh raspberry aromas here with wild herbs and bracken, as well as leafy tones. Lively red and blue fruit sits concentrated on the palate. A fresh blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Mataro.

90 points, Halliday Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin:
Hand picked, with a smidgeon of whole bunches (10%) in the 70% grenache. The oak, all used barriques. Sweet floral aromas segue to Turkish delight and kirsch. White pepper, Seville orange zest and clove lace the long finish. Sappy, crunchy and yet, a bit sweet.

Reviews of 2019 Grenache Mataro:

92 points, Winefront by Mike Bennie:
From good folks comes a good wine of good grapes from two good vineyards. Tension is the first thing that came to mind. This ain’t no blousy red. No, indeed, it sits on train tracks of tannin and acidity, a good bite of amaro tang and amongst all that some jubey, blackcurrant fruitiness. Perfume is mild but floral-leaning with dashes of peppery spice. It’s a wine that has you sit up straight and pay attention. It’s a bit serious, but good in that way. Medium weight, svelte, tense. Good stuff.

Reviews of 2018 Grenache Mataro:

James Halliday, Wine Companion, January 2020, 95 points and top value wine:
Classic southern Rhône Valley style, with the wild herbs and spices of the garrigue giving pleasure in the rims of aromas and flavours alike. It will be hard to keep your hands of it, but it could be a knockout with more time in bottle. 14.5% alc.

92 Points, James Suckling:
Bright, red-fruit fragrance here with some darker berries in the mix, too. The palate is crisp, succulent and juicy, as a good young grenache should be.

Mike Bennie - WBM March/April 2020, 93 points:
There's a really lovely marriage of sweeter fruit gamey, earthy characters in this wine. I like the general sense of detail in the wine too - sheets of fruit character layered on spice, savouriness and a fresh pool of acidity. It feels quietly complex but wildly drinkable.

Reviews of 2017 Grenache Mataro:

James Halliday, Wine Companion, August 2018, 94 points and red value star:
Superb colour; at maximum turbocharged revolutions, but the power is smoothly delivered across the palate. Because the balance is very good, this richly endowed wine will repay cellaring particularly well.

Mike Bennie, WBM July 2018, 93 points:
Lovely stuff. Fragrant with musky-spice, raspberry and cranberry scents. The palate does a similar turn and sits squarely in a medium wieght wine zone. Some heft to the flavours but the finish is a bell ring of clean acidity. Appealing as. 14.5%, $27.

Decanter World Wine Awards (2018). Silver Medal. 93 points. www.decanter.com 

Reviews of 2016 Grenache Mataro:

Andrew Graham, Oz Wine Review, June 2017, www.ozwinereview.com:
The Leask Brothers are switched on growers and these wines typically show plenty of sunny generosity (if sometimes a little heat). The blend here is 60/40 Grenache Mataro; a good mix. Lots of juicy black and red berry fruit. Lovely. The tannins have a real sandy Grenachey shape to them (but with a licoricey oomph). Palate is silky smooth, slightly syrupy but really quite satisfying in its curranty flow, a big luscious wines that is very young, but exuberantly so. It could do with another year in bottle to integrate the bold flavours a little, but the flow of red fruit is undeniably attractive. Very well priced too. Best drinking: 2018-2028. 17.7/20, 92/100+. 14.5%, $25.

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, May 2017, www.winefront.com.au:
60% Grenache, 40% Mataro. I don’t have a feel for 2016 in McLaren Vale, as yet, but so far, I like what I see. A hearty red, but one that’s not too heavy. Red fruits, some floral perfume, slight confectionary notes, but tapered in with dried herb. It’s medium bodied, juicy and savoury at once, with a rub of sandy tannin, fresh red fruits, and a gently bitter amaro herb and earthy aftertaste. This goes all right. Good drinking here. 91 points.

Huon Hooke, April 2017, www.huonhooke.com
Deep red/purple colour, the bouquet black cherry, spices, firm tannins and good body weight. A nicely judged kiss of oak. Balanced and complete. 90 points.

Stuart Robinson, May 2017, www.thevinsomniac.com:
Nigh on pitch-perfect 60/40 blend of two listed players. There's just something so wickedly, consistently, deliciously moreish about H&Y reds. This no exception, it extracts a juicy, jubey aromatic without straying too far towards confection. Call it an allure, call it what you will, inviting is what it is. Slipping around the palate with ease in its easy going, red fruited nature. There's more juicy red fruit, a slip of tannin providing an edge, a framework to carry. Mataro brings up the rear, it's bassy foundations adding length, substance, spice. 91 points.

Reviews of 2015 Grenache Mataro: 

August 2016. 90 Points. Huon Hooke. www.huonhooke.com
Spicy, sweet cherry, confectionery aromas. The palate is tight and lean with firm, fine tannins and a pleasant after-grip. A good, clean, bright wine of some depth. Very smart wine.

August 2016. James Halliday, Wine Companion. 92 Points:
Aromas and flavours are both savoury and sweet-fruited with raspberry, chocolate, and mulchy notes in the mix. Well integrated tannin and acid keeps things fresh and in order.

May 2016. Max Allen, Australian Gourmet Traveller:
Top Drops of the Month, No 1. "heaps of juicy red berry-fruit flavours, but there is also a delicious gutsy earthiness-like sweet black composting leaf litter-that sets it apart.

March 2016. Stuart Robinson, www.the vinsomniac.com.au, 91 points:
A 60/40 blend of Grenache and Mataro respectively, and 100% McLaren Vale. Raspberry, red fruit, some wild herb/garrigue thing with a choc-raspberry-fudge milkshake. Trust me, it works. Juicy, a little dark fruit, chocolate, fine tannin; palate enlivening acidity that brings back the wine full circle. There's fruit in abundance, a little savoury tickle, good length. Another stellar wine.

February 2016. Winsor Dobbin. www.winsorschoice.blogspot.com.au:
This is a fabulously accessible blend of 60% grenache and 40% mataro – the ripe, sweet grenache fruit melding with the earthy funkiness of the mataro to produce a beautifully balanced red that is designed for immediate enjoyment. No need to cellar this one; just put some gourmet sausages on the barbeque and you have a wine/food match made in heaven.

February 2016. 90 points. Gary Walsh. www.winefront.com.au:
Good stuff. It’s crisp and perky, almost Italianate. Raspberry rope, strawberry, dried herb perfume. Medium bodied, crunchy and fresh, red fruits, light sandy tannin, more red fruits on the finish. Almost a ‘volcanic rock’ kind of thing going on. Nice to see a McLaren Vale wine that so bright and ‘food friendly’.

Reviews of the 2022 Carignan:

91 points, Angus Hughson, Vinous.com, April 2025:
The relatively rare 2022 Carignan has a delicious approachability bursting with blackberry, mulberry and sweet red cherry aromas, with a touch of musky plum skin. The good times continue with fleshy flavors, zippy acidity and just enough tannins to keep its streamlined shape over a generous finish. The 2022 is a fun Carignan that is hard to put down. Drinking window: 2024-2027.

16.5, Max Allen, Jancis Robinson, October 2023:
Vines planted in 2013, last red variety to be harvested in 2022, made in two batches– one free-run juice, lighter, fruitier; the other whole-berry, crushed, pressings added back, more structural – then blended for 6 months’ maturation in older puncheons. Enticing, black fruit, good vinosity, fine and focused. Keeps Carignan’s earthiness, growly tannins and gaminess as background notes, brings the delicious fruitiness into the foreground.

91 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
This is good. Perhaps the most convincing red of the suite, particularly in light of a variety endowed with astringent mettle and inherently high acidity. Placated, toned and let loose with what feels like gentle extraction and the right sort of oak treatment. Red pastille, kirsch, bergamot and a herbal tannic twine directing the fray. Mid-weighted, fresh, intense of flavour and yet light on its feet. Immensely versatile at the table. Easy drinking.

92 points, The Wine Front:
I do enjoy Carignan, especially from creaking old vines, though this offering from a vineyard planted in 2014 shows a fresher face, but still has excellent varietal character. Red and blue fruits, a little ironstone and scrub herb perfume, even some choc-liquorice. It’s medium-bodied, gently saline and savoury, light grip of tannin, good freshness and perfume, and offers a chewy finish of solid length, with a bit of amaro/orange peel trailing. Lots of character, and good to drink. Like it.

Reviews of the 2021 Carignan:

90 points, MaryAnn Worobiec, Wine Spectator, December 2023:
This has a wonderful energy to the core of red fruit flavors, including wild strawberry, cranberry and maraschino cherry. Reveals hints of clove-heavy chai tea that are supple, juicy and plush on the long finish. Drink now.

92 points, James Halliday Companion, Ned Goodwin MW:
Grapes like this excite me. They are torrid and equipped with natural astringency and bright acidity, something that most traditional grapes in these parts lack. And? The wines have tension, detail and the savoury sort of lattice between fruit and finish that is required for a second glass. This is handled orchestrally. Red fruits, thyme, rosemary and scrub. A deft approach to gentle extraction that renders character without carignan's facility for hardness. Simple. Perhaps. But a tattoo of crushable drinkability reads 'thrills with a chill'.

Reviews of the 2020 Carignan:

92 points, James Suckling 2021, Nick Stock:
Such attractive, brambly raspberry and blackberry aromas here with a flurry of wild herbs, too. So fresh. The palate has vibrant red-berry flavors that sit lively, framed in bright, easy tannins. Very drinkable now.

91 points, Halliday Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin:
I can't think of many varieties better suited to the dry Mediterranean climate of McLaren Vale. Able to withstand torrid conditions while embedding its wines with a wiry cage of tannin and bright acidity, carignan is one of many tickets into the future. This producer champions plenty of others. A partial wild fermentation and short élevage in older French wood intuits promise: cherry pith, thyme, mint, liquorice. The tannins, as expected. Thrills with a chill.

Reviews of the 2019 Carignan:

91 points, The Real Review, Huon Hooke:
Bright, medium to deep red/purple colour. The nose is savoury, earthy as well as plummy, dark fruits driving the wine. A hint of pepper. Medium to full-bodied, abundant tannins which are powdery and supple. Some chocolate. Good drinking already and will take some age.

91 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front:
Vibrant, forest berry fruitiness, sprigs of green herb, minty notes, peppery stuff. Palate is light and lithe, sizzles with tart acidity in a good way, shows a feathery lick of earthy tannin. Spice, cranberry, kind of transparent, exotic things, it’s interesting and good. I like it. A bit amaro?

91 points, James Suckling:
This has red-flower and leafy aromas, as well as some earthy nuances. Vibrant raspberries and tart red cherries. Succulent appealingly fresh raspberries and redcurrants on the palate with fine, crisp tannins.

Reviews of 2022 Touriga:

Young Gun of Wine, Australia's Best Touriga Nacional, August 2026: 
Touriga is so much more than a generic ‘dry red wine’ variety, particularly when it has seen some time in the bottle. Rich intense spice and a slightly fortified aroma lead into a nicely medicinal, Ribena-infused palate. The spice leaning dark plum, blood orange and blueberries slot together with the herbal undertones and slight liquorice and sit well with the ripe tannin. A lovely example that shows there is so much complexity and variation in the Australian take on Touriga Nacional.

Reviews of 2020 Touriga:

93 points, Mike Bennie, Winefront:
McLaren Vale Touriga on blast. Highly perfumed, all forest berries, sarsaparilla, liquorice, mint and sage characters. Glossy textured, soft and supple, sweet fruited but tempered with crisp, tangy fresh acidity and some creamy, soft tannins lending length and a lovely, puckering finish. Seriously good times, lots of structure and depth yet vitality. Great stuff.

91 points, Ned Goodwin, Halliday Companion 2022:
A bright, mid-weighted, crunchy and slightly sweet red. Touriga, inherently high in acidity, serving to tone flavours of violet, sweet cherry, anise and a sachet of herb. The finish, long and vibrant.

Reviews of 2019 Touriga:

95 points, Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show:
Vibrant, clean & juby pure fruit with a soft long violet finish

93 points, Mike Bennie, Wine Business Magazine:
Straight up, great drinking. Charisma and charm, cola and sour-sweet berry characters, pomegranate juice, cardamom & a hustle of minty herbs. It feels medium weight, slippery but finishes with a smudge of tannins. It's charming from hello, and distinct in its personality. It's got a lot going for it, no doubt.

Reviews of 2018 Touriga:

93 points, Gourmet Traveller Wine - 100 Top New Release Wine:
You can smell and taste Portugal here, the same notes that come through in Portuguese vintage Port, although not porty in the overripe sense. Black cherry, aniseed; beautifully made and fresh; the palate full bodied and firmly structured, powerful and long-lasting.

93 points, Huon Hooke - The Real Review:
Deep, bold, bright purple/red colour, with a lovely sweet black cherry bouquet that smacks of Portuguese port, although it's not 'porty' as such. It's the fruit character, which is very authentic. The wine is full-bodied and firmly-structured, powerful and long-lasting on the palate. A really smart red wine with a bright future.

91 points, Gary Walsh - The Wine Front:
Violet, lavender, chamomile – so floral – also new leather, Christmas cake, blueberry. It’s juicy and plump, plenty of dark fruit and peel, dark chocolate, freshness with sinewy tannin, and a chalky finish of solid length. A lot of interest and pleasure in the glass here.

Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show - Silver Medal: "Bright red garnet, a little ripe floral lavender notes on the nose, the palate is soft and even tempered, lovely lines and spice. Vibrant and juicy.

92 points, James Halliday 2020 Wine Companion:
Dry red style with leather and red cherry flavours doused lightly with dusty dried herbs and spices. There's just enough firmness to the tannin and a good level of ripeness to the fruit. Its a wine of a confident producer.

Reviews of 2017 Touriga:

Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review, May 2018,:
Please, more McLaren Vale Touriga. This is the first crop off Malcolm & Richard Leask’s Touriga plantings and it’s a winner, with bright, gummy bear purple fruit and a just a hint of soil. It’s so vital! Great fine tannins too. Every time I try these well balanced, energetic fruity Touriga Nacional styles I’m reminded how good they are. Delicious, fruity wine. It’s not wildly serious but an enjoyable drink with acidity, tannins and flavour. Best drinking: Now to seven years. 17.7/20, 92/100. 13.2%, $27. Would I buy it? Sure would.